


Mountain Side

by luxshine



Category: NSYNC, Popslash
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-21
Updated: 2011-03-21
Packaged: 2017-10-17 04:26:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/172890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luxshine/pseuds/luxshine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chris faces a decision</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mountain Side

Chris stopped in the middle of the road, watching the two paths before him.

One of them, on his left, looked bright and easy to follow. He could see it go on and on, and even when at some point the trees blocked his view, he could see that there was a clear path all the way down the mountain.

Deep down, he knew that one was the safe path.

The other road, however, started the same but went higher into the mountain and pretty soon turned into just a small line of dirt among the trees. There was no possibility of following that path only by looking at it. After a few steps on the hill, it looked as if Chris would need a machete to manage to keep going that way.

He didn’t have a machete with him, but Chris knew it really didn’t matter. He wasn’t really on a mountain road, in need of a machete.

He was dreaming, and if he chose the path on his right, and he ended up really needing a machete, he would get a machete.

Dreams worked like that. At least, this particular dream worked like that. It hadn’t been the first time Chris dreamed of this path on this mountain side, and he guessed he would dream of it again sometime in the future.

Chris sat on a rock along the dusty road’s side, and started thinking.

The last time he had this particular dream it had been a couple of weeks before the last Challenge of the Children. At the time, he hadn’t known that would be the last official event where they would call themselves *N Sync, and it all had come as a surprise for him. Chris still had hoped they could make at least one more album before calling it quits.

That time, when he had dreamed of the mountain side, he hadn’t been in front of a crossroads. That time, it had been a very difficult part of the mountain, and Chris had been sure that he would never been able to climb by himself.

Both roads before him looked traveled. There were wheel marks on the left path, but both had foot prints. The left path was inviting, especially now that the sun was making it look even brighter, warmer. But Chris was still not sure that he wanted to go that way

Every time he had dreamt of this road, something important happened in his life. Valencia, Universal, *N Sync. During the lawsuit, he used to dream he was just walking in circles, not going anywhere as he got more and more desperate. The forest around the road grew menacing and dark, and every step made Chris feel as if he was never going to find the exit.

And now he was seeing two roads.

He knew why this was happening. Ever since Lance had come out, since Justin had actually told the press that *N Sync wasn’t getting back together, and JC had started working seriously on his new album, Chris had been feeling restless. Every one of his friends was doing something with their lives, and Chris was just… drifting.

Two paths. One that looked easy, one that looked hard enough to make him sweat.

Chris took a deep breath, and looked at his options again.

He wasn’t one to overanalyze his own dreams. He usually just went along with them, especially if they included women, parties and the occasional guest appearance of Gwen Stefani. This dream was no different. He normally didn’t even think about walking down the road. But this was the first time the road forked, and for the first time, Chris didn’t know what to do.

He figured that one road was supposed to symbolize accepting to do the show for VH1, and the other keep doing what he was doing with Nigel’s 11. The problem was figuring out which was which.

The easy one could be doing what he already knew how to do. The TV show would put him immediately on the public’s eye again, even if everyone would start bashing them from day one, but it was a vocal group. He knew how to work in a group, and if he was truthful, he missed that in his life. Keeping on with Nigel’s, playing in small venues, getting a show only once every few months and without even a record label was hard work, but hard work he enjoyed. He still was in a group, but as the lead singer, responsibilities changed. Doing everything from scratch scared Chris more than a little.

On the other hand, he could be seeing things the wrong way. Maybe the easy way was keeping doing things the way he had been for the past three years, not making waves, not calling attention to himself except on the odd chance he was invited to a party or a charity event. Maybe the hard way was taking a chance, the risk that was the tv show, where everything could explode in their faces or it could be a good comeback despite the fact that it sounded worse than a ‘Where are they now’ special. Either way, Chris couldn’t just stay there. He had to keep walking.

Closing his eyes, Chris dug a coin out of his pocket. He didn’t remember if the coin had been there before, but the fact that it was there now boded well for things. He looked at both roads with the coin in hand, and took a deep breath.

Heads, he would take the path on his right.

Tails, he would take the path on his left.

Opening his eyes, he let the coin fly up in the air before catching it on his left hand, covering it with his right.

“This is it,” he told himself. “Moment of truth.”

Slowly, he uncovered the coin, and smiled when he saw the result of the toss. Looking at the path Chris smiled, taking his first step.


End file.
